Should you become a Whole Person Career Coach?

Career coaches are in the enviable position of guiding people into meaningful, rewarding work. This new direction may already align within their wheelhouse or be something entirely new.

What does a career coach do?

Career coaches foster greater self-understanding and insight for those seeking to discover their ideal profession or role within an organization or industry. In this role, you help your clients self-discover the intersection of their skills, passions, interests, and experience.

The goal is to develop an individual’s clarity on what they truly want. From there, you help them establish the milestones that will enable them to successfully step forward into work that aligns with their greatest strengths and assets.

Typically, those pursuing career coaching fall into one of two focal areas:

• Career advancement
• Career transitions

With career advancement, you routinely focus on developing clients (or in-house employees if you’re an internal coach) to assume roles of greater influence and responsibility in the workplace or their industry.
Alternatively, when you work with those at the point of career transition, you find people who are at a crossroads and ready to transition into work that builds on their existing skills. They may also be looking for a track that is more meaningful and challenging.

Regardless of the specific branch of career coaching you opt to focus on, you help your clients self-discover the intersection of their skills, passions, interests and experience. As a result, they become clear on what they truly want and successfully step forward into work that aligns with their greatest strengths and assets.

Who hires a Career Coach?

If you pursue this path, you’ll likely encounter clients who are in the middle of or anticipating career transition. Within this stressful state of change, you assist them to confidently step into their fullest potential, addressing any emotional impacts or limiting beliefs that may be hindering their process.

Your clients desire a trusted confidant, someone who can offer them a safe place to explore. Within this partnership, you champion them towards their very best by enabling them to pursue careers reflective of their true and authentic self – not to mention their unique talents and gifts.

Many people think all they need to land their dream job is a professional-looking résumé. Not so. Add to that the fact that the job search itself can be highly stressful in several ways (and often well before the interviews start). This results in elevated levels of anxiety that lead to feelings of doubt or frustration.
Your job as coach is to help people work through these challenging moments so they effectively represent their true value to current and prospective employers or transition into work they’ll absolutely love. You may even help them explore related opportunities within a different company or industry.

What are the benefits of hiring a career coach?

As a career coach, you enable your clients to get radically clear on their ideal career, as well as the specifics they’re looking for in a role or job. You assess an individual’s current career standing by identifying their strengths, areas for improvement, and marketable skills. This enables you to offer valuable insight into any potential skills gaps, as well as areas that set them apart.

You may also help people make time for themselves, often amid hectic daily schedules. These time allotments are used solely to create well-defined goals and an action plan that allows them to reach those goals most effectively.

The final benefit also tends to be the one your clients will value the most: you act as an unbiased sounding board. This allows them to test ideas and explore possibilities within a safe space.

Why you might love becoming a Career Coach?

Perhaps you’ve worked inside a government, academic or corporate environment, helping others with their career moves, and are ready to step out on your own. Or you’ve lived the risks of leaping around in the corporate arena, expanding your job description to better suit your very best. Now you’d like to coach others to do the same. Career coaching may be a perfect fit for you.

As a career coach, you are interested in matching more than just skills when it comes to careers and jobs. You value the freedom to explore and discover the job that aligns with the passion, skills and career path that is true to your clients’ genuine needs and interests.

Often this is related to helping people self-discover how they can find work that allows them to bring their whole self to the table. Your wisdom is the tipping point others need to break free from their current perceived constraints and the cycles of doubt and limitation keeping them stuck in fields they don’t enjoy or may not be suited for. Your encouragements help them stay true to their deepest callings and find work they truly can’t wait to get to as they jump out of bed in the morning.

Many coaches find career coaching to be highly rewarding, not only for the help it provides others, but also for the immediacy of the results. Your clients find work and enjoy promotions and greater levels of personal and professional success, often in just a few short weeks or months. They also overcome fear and resistance through increased confidence, and achieve improvements in creativity, innovation and overall performance. These personal “bests” aid them not only in their professional lives, but in their personal lives as well.

What are career coaching courses?

There are several career courses you can take to enhance your coaching. For example, many coaches learn how to deliver career personality tests and assessments. This upgrade enhances the level of service they offer their coaching clients. It also allows them to charge more than a standard career coach.

A few popular examples include the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, the DiSC Personality Assessment, and MAPP Assessment Tools.

How do I find a Career Coaching Certification?

Your first step toward becoming a professional career coach is to gain a strong foundational understanding and skillset in coaching. In Whole Person Coaching, you learn how to help individuals orient to their skills and strengths. More importantly, you work with them to identify and define their personal values.

As a career coach, this training enables you to help your clients expand the lens in which they view themselves. From that perspective, they are better able to set meaningful goals and pursue a career that is tailored to their unique strengths and interests.